Staff photo / John Vargo Mitchel Dunham, left, and Frank Bero will run for Boardman on Saturday in the state cross country meet.

BOARDMAN — Mark Hadley’s finish was historic for the Boardman High School boys cross country team.

He won every race his senior year. The state meet at National Trail Raceway in Hebron was no different, as he won a state championship that day — leading the Spartans to a fourth-place team finish in Division I.

Hadley went on Furman University in South Carolina, and later finished at Walsh University in North Canton. His teammate and the yin-to-his-yang, fellow senior Alan Burns, finished 21st in the state meet that year to help the Spartans succeed. Burns later went on to be one of Youngstown State University’s top runners.

Boardman coach John Phillips remembers that day.

He sees current senior Mitchel Dunham and junior Frank Bero, who are heading to Saturday’s Division I state meet at NTR, as the current Hadley-Burns combination.

“They remind me every day of Alan Burns and Mark Hadley,” Phillips said.

Hadley and Burns are visible at races and workouts, helping their proteges.

“When they call me down before the race, they help me out,” Bero said. “They know my race plan. On workout days, they pace me and Mitchel on workouts.

“It’s really great to have them back helping us out.”

Dunham said he and Bero, who have comprised the best 1-2 combination in the area, talk after races during their cooldown run about what they could have done better.

“We usually have a good amount of it planned out before the race,” Dunham said. “It’s going in with a plan to race the competition when they make moves and respond to it. A lot of it is unplanned.”

During the race, Bero knows where he needs to be — next to Dunham.

“Mitchel is my pacer for the first half of the race,” Bero said. “That’s where he’ll normally pull away. That’s where I’ll put my head down. He’ll put his head down. We’ll start working hard.

Hadley, Burns and former Boardman runner Chris Butler, who is at YSU, help the current Spartans duo.

“I think it helps with the mental aspect, being in our shoes and how to go through our workouts,” Dunham said. “They have so much knowledge based on being in the same shoes.

“With training, just believe we could get the job done. Told me that this is a very important race, but in the end it’s Saturday that everyone looks at. Go out, no worries, and leave it out on the course.”

Phillips sees Bero like Hadley and Dunham like Burns. The way the former and current Boardman duo run together is uncanny — how they approach each and every race.

“It’s like deja vu all over again, to quote one of my favorites, Yogi Berra,” Phillips said.